thanks for wearing the little hat,allan lummox,now i know you play the blues!haha.oh,that reminds me,i stole the allan lummox/jimmy rogers thank you on the back of my guitar.the audience just eats it up.

my first show out of the hospital in october the audience had signs saying"your welcome,"and things like "oh no,thank you!" that made me tear up to be honest.

i have a few hats i use on stage. mainly i don't like lights in my eyes! and i do look decent with a fedora or like that.

the days are long past where i would get on stage with a t-shirt and sneakers. i wear very nice florsheims or another pair of formal type durable shoes when we gig, except say at the farmers market where we park and walk 1/4 mile or more to where we set up.

i used a briefcase with foam padding for many years, made it myself for like $12 total and it's covered with decals and stickers from past bands, blues radio stations, etc., but the corners are so beat, the latches sometimes don't catch, and the case HAS to stay the right way up or i'm rearranging harps when i open it. so i got a pretty snazzy lil case a couple months back that hold the harps i need plus a couple of mics.

on stage i'm VERY protective of my harp case whether it's on the floor or a chair or wherever. a guitarist would have to run me over to step on my harps!

i do wear jeans mostly unless we have a really uptown gig, but i always wear a nice shirt. some years ago a band i was with tried to dress all very similar but i found the bowling shirt thing a bit too cliche'. suit jackets i have worn always come off as i begin to sweat with the workout of doing live music, so i have let them go these days.

a couple of years back i fell into a bad habit od keeping a lyrics book, as did my wife. this involved music stands and also, some light. more for her than me although i do forget lyrics sometimes! we have not found a small reading lamp that would work for good light, so for a while we would take the living room pole lamp with tassled shade out to our gigs! blue folding chairs with gold stenciled names on the back complete the stage gear.

i have gotten on many stages with just my harps too. to me the real gimmick is what hits the ears of the audience. if you don't have that, you basically have the emperor's new clothes.

yeah man,you are always stylin'.that last show we did together your black silk sport coat was killer.plus people STILL talk about how good you were!

i just spent all of last night's gig money on new clothes,mostly ties.you guys are killing me!hahastill i wonder though,walter,for example ,looks great in his red suit ,cool tye and hat,dan always looks natty.however,i see some people shoot for that look and fail,look more like smacked butts.i wonder where the difference lies.like recently i saw a harp player dressed just like rod piazza,but on him it looked comical.like for example,i saw a picture of myself,where i am playing outdoors in july at a festival at noon or so.so i had a straw hat and sunglasses on and i looked like a poser.ewww.yet another festival i did i wore a whites sport coat and linen etc,i didn't look as bad.i can't figure this out.haha

still i wonder though,walter,for example ,looks great in his red suit ,cool tye and hat,dan always looks natty.however,i see some people shoot for that look and fail,look more like smacked butts.i wonder where the difference lies.

IMO it about believing it. It is the vibe you carry. Kind of like a little guy that can intimidate someone twice his size. You have to believe in the concept and feel more comfortable in the suit, than not. Like I said, I got it from the old guys. They fit the suit. Walter

Walter is 100% on the money with his statement.When I was fresh out of high school and working as a roadie for a working band, I saw quickly how some guys carried the look, attitude and demeanor for wearing the kind of threads that distinguish them as opposed to other whose appearance mocks the style.

Our drummer was the guy that carried the style well. Big apple hats, vests suede jackets he wore all that well. When the singer and bass player tried to wear some of that outfit they look like fraternity boys in the projects. They got all the wrong kind of attention.

It looks like this thread morphed from bein' about props to bein' about clothes. Oh well, it ain't the first time. Sometimes I think the clothing thing is skewed by what you THINK you look good in, and what you don't look good in, and what feels good. I could never stand to wear too many clothes on stage 'cuz I hate gettin' too hot and uncomfortable in 'em. One of my favorite blues guitarists (Jimi Prime Time Smith) brings a coupla changes of clothes, so he can pit 'em out and change between sets. But he follows the formula of lettin' his band play without him for the first couple tunes in each set and then they bring him on, so he's got time to schmooze the crowd and get a change in. He cut his teeth in the Chicago market, so he was well aware of having competition.

jeffl wrote:It looks like this thread morphed from bein' about props to bein' about clothes. Oh well, it ain't the first time. Sometimes I think the clothing thing is skewed by what you THINK you look good in, and what you don't look good in, and what feels good. I could never stand to wear too many clothes on stage 'cuz I hate gettin' too hot and uncomfortable in 'em. One of my favorite blues guitarists (Jimi Prime Time Smith) brings a coupla changes of clothes, so he can pit 'em out and change between sets. But he follows the formula of lettin' his band play without him for the first couple tunes in each set and then they bring him on, so he's got time to schmooze the crowd and get a change in. He cut his teeth in the Chicago market, so he was well aware of having competition.

I get hot no matter what I wear. When I lived in Austin, people would never stop asking me how I could wear full tux's and stuff like that in the summer heat, in non airconditioned clubs. I always said the same thing- if I got but naked right now, I would still be sweating like a pig Walter

I have a really cool hat but since my weekly gig is the stage at church I leave it at home.My "outfit" this week was a nice tie-dyed (called "Stained Glass") button up shirt with nice jeans. The better half (sings harmony) wore a matching shirt. I had on my harp belt, harp rack, I sit on a black barstool, rattle can painted so it won't stand out too much and guitar on my lap.I don't play all that much because we have a young man playing guitar but I feel comfortable with my harps and guitar handy. I can grab a harp and play a melody if need be or hit a chord to start a song if my piano player or guitar player have trouble. It happens.I will usually wear a bowling shirt, the tie-dye or a mild Hawaiian shirt, black slacks, black shoes.